Word.ws English Dictionary

droning

UK/ˈdɹəʊnɪŋ/US/ˈdɹoʊnɪŋ/

droning is the present participle and gerund of drone.

Noun

droning (countable and uncountable, plural dronings)

  1. A dull humming sound.
    • For a long while a man may hear the droning of little insects and yet not be aware that he hath heard them, so may the gods not hear our prayers at first until they have been very oft repeated.1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 61
  2. Tedious and monotonous speech or writing.
    • Just be glad you never had to suffer my dronings first hand, Rufe.1997, Rufe McCombs, Karen Spears Zacharias, Benched: The Memoirs of Judge Rufe McCombs (page 89)

Meaning of drone

Verb (1)

drone (third-person singular simple present drones, present participle droning, simple past and past participle droned)

  1. (colloquial, transitive) To kill or destroy with a drone (unmanned aircraft), or with a missile fired by a drone.
    • "I have a lot of advice for him," Ayers said in the interview, aired Tuesday night. "I want him to stop droning people. I want him to close Guantanamo. I want universal healthcare. Don't you think we deserve universal healthcare? Seriously."2014, Colin Campbell, “Bill Ayers To Obama: 'Stop Droning People'”, in Business Insider

Verb (2)

drone (third-person singular simple present drones, present participle droning, simple past and past participle droned)

  1. To produce a low-pitched hum or buzz.
  2. To speak in a monotone.

See all 20 meanings of drone

Forms of droning

pluraldronings

Phrases with droning

Words that rhyme with droning

Questions about droning

What does droning mean?
Droning means a dull humming sound.
What is droning the present participle and gerund of?
Droning is the present participle and gerund of drone.
What part of speech is droning?
Droning is a noun.
How do you pronounce droning?
Droning is pronounced /ˈdɹəʊnɪŋ/ (UK).
What is the plural of droning?
The plural of droning is dronings.

Words near droning in the dictionary

  1. dronifications
  2. dronified
  3. dronifies
  4. dronify
  5. dronifying
  6. droning
  7. droning on
  8. droningly
  9. dronings
  10. dronish
  11. dronishly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: droning (page history and authors); drone (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “droning.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/droning. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.